Tali
Feminine · “dew”
Tali is given to both — 1,463 girls and 72 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Tali is dew. Hebrew tal is the word, and dew is not a small thing in a country with no summer rain — it is what keeps things alive between one wet season and the next, and the scriptures treat it accordingly.
How old is the name Tali?
Tali first appears in US birth records in 1967 — 58 years ago. The typical Tali alive today was born around 2008, making them about 17 years old. About 1,400 people named Tali are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tali most popular?
Tali peaked in 2023, reaching #2823 nationally. Today it ranks #2933, 110 places below that high. See the whole 2023 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From tal to Tali
The story of Tali
Dew appears throughout the Hebrew scriptures as a figure for blessing that arrives quietly and without asking — Isaac's blessing of Jacob asks for the dew of heaven, and the prayer for dew is still said in synagogues at Passover, when the rainy season ends. Modern Hebrew naming took the word up and made a small family from it: Tal for both sexes, Talia, Tali, Talya. It reaches United States records with Israeli families and with American Jewish families choosing modern Hebrew names.
Meaning
dew
Hebrew tal means dew, and Tali is a diminutive and possessive form of it — my dew, or little dew. It also serves as the short form of Talia, which is tal-yah, 'dew of God'. The reading is documented and undisputed. In a Mediterranean climate dew is the difference between a crop and no crop through the dry months, which is why the word carries the weight it does.
How the name formed
- tal
- Tali
Related forms: טלי · Talia · Tal
Pronouncing Tali
TAH-lee
Two syllables, stress on the first in American use. Israeli Hebrew stresses the second, ta-LEE, as Hebrew usually does. Both are widely heard here depending on the family.
Nicknames for Tali
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1967
- Most girls named
- 202360 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2823reached in 2023
- Change vs 2024
- +26.7%57 in 2025, from 45
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Tali in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- טלי in Hebrew — transliteration
- Talia in Hebrew — related form
- Tal in Hebrew — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, California, Florida.
Talis among us
people named Tali are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 28,198 born in 2025 was named Tali
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Tali
- #2933
- Tali on the 2025 chart
- #890
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Tali went to 57 girls in 2025, but Tally is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 70, which makes it the 890th most-given girls’ name of the year — 2,043 places above the chart.
- Tali57
- Tally13
About 1 girl in 22,961 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 28,198 for Tali itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Mel test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Tali's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Mel climbed just as high around 1957, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Mel's path sketches the road Tali is walking now.
Tali sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Tali is headed
Tali should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Tali beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Tali in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A concrete and beautiful meaning, and one that carries real weight in the culture it comes from.
- Tal and Talia both stand beside it as related names, one shorter and one longer.
- Four letters, entirely phonetic, and said correctly by English speakers at first sight.
- The stress falls differently in Hebrew and English, so the child will hear two versions.
- It is short enough to read as a nickname on official documents.
- Tali, Talie and Tally all circulate and the last is an ordinary English word.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Tali
Feminine · #2933 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Talis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,400 people named Tali are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Tali?
- Tali is the most-used spelling in US records — 57 of the 70 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Tally.
- How popular is the name Tali in 2025?
- Tali ranks #2933 among US girl names in 2025, with 57 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Tali?
- About 1 in every 28,198 US girls born in 2025 was named Tali — 57 in all.
- Will my child share the name Tali with classmates?
- Tali will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Tali
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Taylynn#2933 · Melisa#2933 · Ivori#2933 · Layah#2933 · Jailyne#2933 · Azlynn#2933 · Blima#2933 · Eulalia#2933
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Tali? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Tali and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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